Justified: City Primeval

Considering Justified is one of my favorite shows ever I've really been looking forward to Justified: City Primeval ever since I first heard about it. Then when I saw the trailers my expectations grew even more. Well, it's finally here and I can say without hesitation that this series not only met those expectations but surpassed them in every way. Timothy Olyphant returns as Raylan Givens. If there's ever been an actor perfect for a role it's Olyphant as Givens. This role was made for him. This series brings everything you loved about the original but also with a fresh take. I really can't recommend this show enough. Whether you're a fan of the original Justified or not, this is a must watch.

I really wanted to like this series. But three episodes in, it feels like our modern-day Matt Dillon has been worm-holed into an alternate universe of lackluster writing, uninteresting supporting characters, and stodgy direction. No Elmore Leonard vibe this time... just the sort of flaccid storytelling more typical of network cop dramas. And, as a dad with three daughters and my fair share of parental challenges, I feel the whole father-daughter thread is unconvincing. Check out Bosch for some really good writing in that vein. Most of all, this new outing needs an intriguing and likable villain. Give me Boyd Crowder!

It's a good thing the writers are currently on strike; that means you can get new ones when the strike is over! The way they wrote the character Willa is horrible . Please send her back to Florida or whatever.

Vivian, if you read this, please know that this is just your first gig. You have your dad's smile, but you were miscast into this role that is setting you up for a lot of criticism. I can't wait to see you in roles that actually make sense.

The good part of this show is that it still has Timothy Olyphant doing Raylan. There are also some really good supporting actors in this show. I have hope that this show will get better and "justify" itself.

I love all things Timothy Olyphant, the original Justified and I love the Raylan Givens character. What I can do without is the Willa character. I find her to be annoying and unnecessary. I know it's only 2 episodes in, but she's added nothing to the show at all, except teenage disobedience. This character is an obvious ploy and someone we're supposed to care about when she's abducted or otherwise harmed. Maybe the impetus for Raylan to break a law, become angrier, show vulnerability, etc. Either way she's irritating and the least the writers could've done was make her character likable. I'm still gonna watch because of Mr. Olyphant and the rest of the cast, but I really hope her character has less screen time.

What used to make Justified great was the excellent and charismatic villains along with witty repartee dialogue between Raylan and said antagonists, with some good action and plot twists sprinkled in. This series has a less compelling villain who is quite obvious in his machinations and struts around in his white briefs far too often for my taste. He's hardly ever on screen with Raylan so the dialogue is minimal.

We also get some side characters who are inserted for little reason like his supposedly 15-year-old daughter Willa, played by Timothy Olyphant's real life daughter who is 20 and it shows. She can raise her voice an octave but we still have eyes. The writers do her no favors, she just plays the usual bratty and disobedient teen girl trope that is seemingly in every show now, and doesn't move the plot forward in any way but rather acts as a drag on it with distracting annoyance.

The love interest for Raylan is so far off from Ava Crowder or Winona Hawkins that it just doesn't come across as believable. Raylan is probably out of almost every woman's league but in this case it's really a bridge too far.

Neither the plot nor the dialogue are all that clever. Raylan gets in a few quips but it just seems like they stole the lines from the original Justified and repurposed them here. It's great to see Raylan on screen again and Sweety (Vondie Curtis-Hall) is also a lot of fun to watch so I still give this a 6, but when they're off screen it's a 3 or 4. Were they justified in making this show? Mostly not.